Here are some examples of acts of human decency to cherish in a world that’s currently strangled by Coronavirus. By Chahak Mittal
Over the past month, news headlines have reeked of sorrow. Life seems to have come to a standstill, almost failing miserably to even uplift us out of the morass. There’s no running away because stepping out of your house seems akin to stepping into a pool of danger. While some people are dying untimely or losing their loved ones, some are just struggling to reach their homes or living with fear.
But amid all this gloom and doom, there are some people who are trying to bring attention to that silver lining around the cloud. In various ways, they are taking some unheralded initiatives to benefit those in need in these trying times. Here are some examples of acts of human decency and ‘a few good things’ to cherish in a world that’s currently strangled by Coronavirus.
Call for the COVID SOS
The COVID SOS (www.covidsos.org) is a non-profit initiative to connect senior citizens and specially-abled people with volunteers from the neighbourhood who can help them with delivery of essentials (for instance, groceries, medicines). Due to the nationwide lockdown, there is a disruption in the delivery and availability of essential products and services. As per the WHO, older people and those with pre-existing medical conditions are more vulnerable to the virus.
Conceptualised by Bangalore-based IIT-Delhi alumni, Sidharth Jain, the initiative is supported by the Green Dream Foundation and Helpage India. The website, https://covidfyi.in provides consolidated information about nearby hospitals, doctors, government services and important helpline numbers. He said, “It’ll help wherever we get the volunteers. Currently, we have 500 of them spread across India. Just register yourself and you might also be able to help someone near you. It enables young people to assist senior citizens and those in need around them by doing simple tasks like getting medicines, groceries or food.” And the process goes like this. When they receive a request within walking distance of your address, you will be notified if you want to help.
Here comes the medical ferry
The ‘UberMedic’ is being used by hospitals in the Delhi-NCR region to ferry heathcare workers. Public hospitals like Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and Safdarjung Hospital are getting free of cost taxis to transport frontline healthcare workers across the city. The initiative has come as a part of the 10 million free rides being offered globally as per the announcement made by Uber CEO Khosrowshahi earlier. It is being expanded up to 10 Indian cities — New Delhi, Noida, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Lucknow and Patna.
An UberMedic driver, Pawan Kumar said, “We transport doctors and nurses from their homes to hospitals and back. I feel a sense of pride in doing this because at the end of the day, we are doing our bit in this global crisis and helping protect the entire country. I feel proud. I feel like I am a soldier. Our doctors and nurses are already fighting this battle for the country and we want to support them so we are also, in a way, serving the country.”
All the cars are fitted with roof-to-floor plastic sheeting enclosing the driver, which acts as a protective barrier to limit contact between the driver and the rider. To ensure safety and hygiene standards, the drivers are being specially trained in safety procedures and equipped with personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves, sanitisers and disinfectants.
Adopting indigenous social distancing methods
Bihar-based social activist Sarvesh Tiwari adopts indigenous social distancing methods to distribute masks to the needy. The distributors use gloves and sticks as precautionary measures while giving away the masks to minimise the chances of transmission. Having started his campaign from Musahar Toli, Sarvesh aims to supply these masks to 20,000 people in need.
The masks that are being distributed are of different colours, as it helps ensure that the masks aren’t exchanged within the family members, further ensuring their individual safety from COVID-19. For women, there are red and pink masks, for men, there are blue and black, while children are being given white masks.
“During a crisis, the marginalised communities are the worst hit. The first reason behind this is the lack of awareness among them and second is the lack of resources to avail precautionary tools and measures. Keeping this in mind, I decided to distribute masks among such sections of society as utmost priority while taking all possible safety measures. In these times that demand social distancing, this indigenous way of distributing masks using a stick is very easy to put into practice and people are adopting it very enthusiastically,” said Sarvesh.
Feeding the needy
Even though the government stimulus plans are in progress, families with no steady source of income are still waiting for aid to reach them. Coming forward in support of such families, Bhopal-based Chandni Asrani and a group of residents from the city have started the initiative — ‘Feeding Bhopal,’ which aims to provide meals to poor families and daily-wage earners. Since the lockdown, it has reached out to more than 1,000 families across the city and fed around 1,000 stray animals.
The initiative procures food grains with the help of donations that it receives and then, supplies one week’s ration to families in need. This includes two kg wheat, two kg rice, one kg dal, salt, turmeric, chilli, cooking oil and soap. In collaboration with Menses With Mansa, it is also distributing sanitary napkins. Providing essential items for a week to five families mainly covers slum areas (Bastis) with large populations of daily-wage labourers and people with no means to buy rations.
Flattening the curve through sanitisers
The Forest Essentials is stepping up in their efforts to eradicate the spread of the virus. Frontline healthcare workers were donated Ayurvedic hand sanitisers, surface cleansers and medicated soaps as a part of their initiative. Taking all the prescribed precautions, they are working to help flatten the curve and ensure safety conditions for all of the employees currently mobilised in their factories. The workers have been working in shifts to maximise the output.
They are also in constant touch with the local authorities and Uttarakhand state government for the formulation and production of sanitisers to meet its increasing demand. The hand sanitisers are being produced as per the WHO formula for alcohol content as well as aloe vera juice and glycerin to not dry out hands.
